Sword Art Online: Part 2
by TheSafeJug
Summary: Just when Sword Art Online seems to be finally over, fifty more floors are added on. There are no more safe zones and the monsters are near impossible to defeat. With few people fighting on the front lines, will Sword Art Online ever be beaten?
1. The End of the Beginning

"THE GAME HAS BEEN CLEARED. THE GAME HAS BEEN CLEARED."

I was dead. I had destroyed Kayaba Akhiko, the very creator of the game which I had been trapped in for far too long. The man who was posing as one of the players of the game.

The man who killed Asuna.

But as I thought, I realized that I shouldn't be _thinking – _I should be dead. As far as I was concerned, the dead didn't have thoughts. They were just dead. So what was I, then? How was I alive? Was this really what happened when you died in SAO? Did you just float around in the darkness, thinking?

I didn't think so.

I slowly came to notice that the darkness was due to my eyes being shut. Realizing this, I quickly opened them.

What met my eyes was a room unlike any I'd seen in the world of SAO. But I had the peculiar feeling I wasn't out of the death game just yet. The room was all white. There was no other color I could see. I was standing up, though, so there was probably a floor made out of glass. But other than this floor, there was nothing in the room. Not a single thing. Maybe this was it; the players of SAO that had their HP drop to zero were teleported to this odd room and stayed there forever.

As soon as I thought this, two figures emerged right in front of my eyes. They popped up out of thin air. I couldn't believe it myself, but since I had the assumption I was in SAO, anything was possible. After all, it was just a video game.

But there stood Heathcliff, who was actually Kayaba Akhiko, and next to him was a person that automatically made me form a wide grin.

"Kirito-kun!" Asuna exclaimed.

"Asuna..." I smiled wider, uncontrollably.

"Yes, yes. A happy reunion, but you two are going to need to listen to this."

My grin formed into a frown. I had almost forgotten that Kayaba was in the room with us, and whatever he was about to say was definitely important. I could tell.

Asuna rushed to my side before the creator of SAO began talking. We sat side-by-side on the floor, glaring up at the person I once knew as Heathcliff.

"You may think that you have won Sword Art Online." Kayaba stated.

"I... I didn't win? That's... no! I killed you!" I gritted my teeth.

"Yes, indeed. You killed me, and I was the 'final boss' of the game. However, while you and the thousands of other people tried to beat my floating castle, I expanded it."

I stared hard at this man. What did he even mean? How could he "expand" SAO without telling the players?

"There are fifty more floors of Sword Art Online."

"NO!" I rushed over to Kayaba Akhiko and swiftly jammed my fist into his chest. Nonchalantly, he kicked me back across the room. Asuna cried out my name.

"How... could you!?" I demanded, groaning. I noticed that I didn't have an HP bar in this odd room, but somehow, Kayaba's kick hurt me. I felt real, actual pain where his foot met my body.

"It is only your own fault, Kirito." Kayaba frowned upon me.

"I don't believe I did anything wrong..." I cockily shot back. The tall man walked closer to me. Asuna stood up and guarded me.

"No..." I moaned.

"Please, Asuna, I'm not trying to hurt your knight in shining armor. I was just walking closer." Kayaba explained, but Asuna didn't move.

"Anyway, in these final fifty floors of Aincrad, there are no more pathetic zones where you can be protected. Cities will not be protected. I have created these extra floors because I realized my mistake soon after the game began: everyone just waited it out in the towns and didn't participate in battles. But this will not be the case any more."

"You... monster..." I replied, standing up beside Asuna.

"I am not a monster. I just want my own world. It has been my dream for a long, long while, and in the real world, you can't just hide in a protected zone."

What he was saying sunk in. I wasn't close to being done with Sword Art Online. There were fifty more floors, and with no protection, murders would be highly common. I hated to admit it, but the death game was _fair_. Besides the fact that you die on Earth if you die inside the game, the rules were all fair. But now, all that was in the past. No one is safe. Everyone who isn't talented at SAO will perish. I cringed.

How could he do this?

"Everyone will be teleported to Floor 101 within ten minutes."

Floor 101.

Who knew what kind of monsters lay on such a high-level floor? No one was prepared. How could we fend off monsters that are immensely higher leveled than ourselves?

"To change things up a little bit, however, some things are different about these final fifty floors. The first thing is that I have completely re-done all the monsters in the game. No monster from the first one hundred floors will appear in the next fifty." Kayaba added, after a period of silence.

I turned to look at Asuna. She had a stunned look on her face, but hadn't said anything. When she noticed I was looking at her, she turned to face me, and for a brief moment, we were both happy. But Kayaba started again, and snapped out of it.

"The next fifty floors also have many new items. The same rules of SAO apply, so there are no revival items, but there are new animals that you can mount for fast transportation as well as a couple new types of armor and weaponry."

I didn't care about this news, still being angry about the fact that there even were fifty more floors. What if when we reach the end of those floors, we get met with fifty _more _floors? There was no guarantee that that wouldn't happen. What did Kayaba Akhiko want to do? Kill every single one of the ten thousand people who joined SAO?

"I will leave you two to talk, and in ten minutes, the teleportation will begin. Please, feel free to prepare for the next few floors, because you will need it. The monsters, I can assure you, are immensely challenging." Kayaba warned, and with that, he was gone. In less than a second, he had disappeared.

* * *

There was a period of silence, but I felt warmth on my shoulder. Looking, I saw Asuna's head resting there. I couldn't help but smile.

"So... we aren't done after all." I grimaced.

"Kirito-kun... I hate to bring it up, but... our real world bodies. We surely can't live for too much longer." Asuna solemnly sighed.

"That doesn't matter now. We've been living here for two years and nothing has happened." I reassured her. I didn't want her to worry about that, nor worry much at all. As long as we were careful, we could survive Floor 101, and all the floors after that. The important thing was that we were still together.

"Okay, Kirito-kun..." Asuna whirled my whole body around and gave me a firm kiss. It lasted for a long time, and momentarily, I forgot about all of my troubles.

When it ended, we both had serious looks on our faces. As much as I hated him now, Kayaba Akhiko had a point; we should prepare for the next fifty floors. They would be the toughest challenge any player in SAO had ever been met with, and we certainly needed to discuss it.

"What are we going to do? The last boss on the 75th floor... it killed so many of the fighters on the front lines... I don't know if we can manage to go through fifty more floors." Asuna stated.

"We'll just have to grind a lot. If we get lucky, we can get leveled up quickly from the high-level monsters that will undoubtedly be on Floor 101." I brought up. "You're a really great fighter, Asuna. I know you will be able to survive."

She forced a smile.

"You too."

I slowly sat back on the glass floor again, and Asuna copied my movement. We sat there in silence for a moment, thinking. Were we really powerful enough? Or was I just trying to make her feel better...?

No, we were. And we would prevail. I knew we would reach Floor 150 and finally end Sword Art Online.

As for everyone else... I was weary of them being able to survive. Them. The ones who stayed in the towns and stayed away from monsters in fear of dying. Just when they thought they were saved, they now were being brought into a floor without any protection, unsafe from murderers. Thousands of people would die in an instant. Only a few hundred would remain. The ones who fought on the front lines. The ones who could protect themselves.

"We... we should really take another break from the front lines sometime within the next fifty floors." Asuna suddenly said.

"And return to our cabin?"

"Yes. Back to the peaceful Floor 22." Asuna sighed.

"I promise we will. No matter what." I replied.

Asuna giggled.

"What is it?"

"It's just that... that's what you said to me a while ago, in SAO. You promised you would protect me."

"I'm... sorry." I apologized, looking away from Asuna.

"No, no... you did, Kirito-kun. Even though I technically died... we're still here together. You kept your promise, and I know you'll keep that one, too." Asuna added. I turned around to look at her again. She was smiling widely, and I joined in. We sat there together for some of the last peaceful moments in a long time, staring at each other, smiling.

Suddenly, a burst of light surrounded us.

"This is it." I held out my hand, and Asuna grabbed it.

"We will survive." Asuna happily said.

The light got bigger and bigger until it fully surrounded us. Asuna went out of my view, as did the white room where I spoke to the creator of the death game, Kayaba Akhiko. All I saw was blue light, and I knew I was ready.

I would finally beat Sword Art Online.


	2. The Masked Man

"Kirito-kun?"

The light had gone away, and now I stood in the middle of a ruined town. Buildings were on fire, houses were destroyed, and there was debris everywhere.

"What… happened?" I muttered.

"Where is everyone? I thought all the remaining players were coming here…" Asuna analyzed the area. "And… this place…"

Suddenly, a figure flew out of an alleyway. It was wearing a cloak and had a mask on, blocking my view of the figure's face. But all I knew was that the person was barreling towards Asuna, and I wasn't going to have that.

Swiftly, I ran in front of the figure before it could approach Asuna. Looking closer, I realized that this person was wielding a silver battle axe. It looked immensely powerful, and I worried that it could kill us. But that was a silly thought; I was a dual-wielder.

"What do you want?" I asked, unsheathing one of my swords. A chuckle came out of the figure's mouth.

"I don't want anything," The figure spoke, revealing that it was a man with a deep voice, "I just wanted to see if anyone else was even here."

"Well, we are. Put away the axe." I shot back, standing next to Asuna. She had a nervous look on her face.

"What's up with this place? Was it always like this, or–"

"I said for you to put away the axe." I reminded the cloaked man, putting away my own sword to show him how it worked.

"Yes, yes, of course, master." He mocked, opening up his menu and unequipping it. "Anyways, really sucks that there's fifty more floors, eh?"

Asuna and I didn't respond.

"I think everyone probably spawned in random locations in order to not have everyone just get slaughtered right at the beginning." The man chuckled again.

"That isn't a laughing matter." Asuna declared.

"Oh, excuse me. I'm not a very serious guy. Speaking of _me_… I don't believe we've formally introduced ourselves, have we? The name's Mitsuo. You guys?"

I hesitantly decided to tell this mysterious man my name.

"I'm Kirito."

"Asuna."

"What nice names. Are you two… in a relationship?" Mitsuo guessed, shocking me. It was typical teasing, but the way he said it gave me the irrational thought that he somehow knew all about me.

Impossible.

"Yes, in fact. We're married." Asuna didn't hesitate to speak up about our marriage.

"Ooh… surprising. I haven't met a married couple in this death game yet. Hear you two must share an inventory. How is that, eh?"

"Enough with the questions. We need to go now, Mitsuo. It was… pleasant… talking to you." I lied, grasping Asuna's hand. "Goodbye, now."

"Kirito and Asuna, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I–"

By that point, we were running far away from the strange, masked man. I didn't know what to make of him, but he gave me an odd feeling. It was a feeling that I didn't enjoy.

Completely hopeless as to knowing where to go, Asuna and I rushed through the desolated city, seeking _something_; there were no monsters or any other people in this abandoned town. Just us two and Mitsuo, which wasn't a great circumstance.

Why was Mitsuo asking us so many questions? What did he really want with us? I would understand why he would talk to us, as we were the only other players in the city, but why introduce himself by leaping out of the shadows and aiming a battle axe for my wife's head?

So far, Floor 101 made absolutely no sense.

And there were also no monsters in sight. This completely went against what Kayaba Akhiko himself had said, and threw me off quite a bit. For a while, while running with Asuna, I was ready for battle, but I slowly stopped telling myself a monster would appear any second when it had been five minutes and not a single monster had been seen.

"We should really stop running, Kirito-kun." Asuna softly spoke, startling me. Snapping out my thoughts, I nodded. We sat down next to a pile of debris.

"So… what now? Do we take a break and keep running?" I asked, panting.

"I don't think it's worth–"

"Hey!" The familiar cloaked man came into view, falling out of the sky and right in front of us. "Why are you stopping now? Gotta get out of this town!"

"You!" Asuna and I snarled in unison.

"What? So, I followed you… just wanted company. I'm a lonely guy, y'know." Mitsuo shrugged.

"Go a different way and leave us _alone_!" Asuna, in a swift motion, shot up and kicked Mitsuo in the stomach. His HP went down by about 30%. I sat in awe.

"Hey! Chick, you're going to kill me!" Mitsuo opened up his menu and grabbed a healing potion, gulping it down.

"Then go away. What do you want, for real!?" Asuna stepped closer to Mitsuo as he stepped further backward.

"I'm telling you! I'm just a lonely guy and I want company! I'm not willing to be alone in this destroyed town! Would you want me to be like that…?"

"Yes." We said in unison.

"Oh, don't be like that." Mitsuo grumbled as his HP slowly regenerated.

"Look, Mitsuo," I referred to the cloaked man with his name to get his attention, "I still really don't know exactly why you're stalking us, but you need to go away."

"Guys!" Mitsuo completely ignored my comment, shooting up his arm and frantically pointing to the right of us. I turned around to see an odd sight. It was something that resembled an elephant. But instead of the usual colors of an elephant, it was completely blue. Certain parts of it were different shades of blue, but no other color was exhibited on the creature.

"Is… that a monster?" I mumbled, unsheathing one of my swords.

"It's so cute!" Mitsuo galloped over to the creature, but within a second of being in close contact with it, the creature rammed into him with its tusks, sending him hurdling back in our direction.

We broke down laughing. Mitsuo's HP hadn't been depleted too much, but it was still quite the funny sight to see.

"Guys…" Mitsuo muttered, pulling himself up, "that thing has a saddle."

"I don't see a saddle." Asuna replied, looking closely at the elephant.

"It's blue." Mitsuo spat back.

"Ahh…" Asuna looked at Mitsuo again. Dirt covered his cloak and the black mask that covered his face. We didn't bother to question why he wore a mask, as, number one, I didn't really care, and number two, there might be some long, personal explanation that I didn't want to hear.

Asuna and I now stood side-by-side examining the creature. I wasn't sure what to make of it. The saddle made me think about the fact that Kayaba had created rideable creatures for the next fifty floors. But it still seemed hostile, attacking Mitsuo.

"Die, fowl beast!" A familiar voice called out from behind the creature. And then, quite suddenly, it was in two halves. It had been swiftly cut open by a sword. Oddly enough, the creature exploded. Smoke went everywhere. Asuna tackled me as we hugged each other for dear life while Mitsuo frantically tried to climb a building to escape the smoke.

But once the smoke cleared, a figure emerged. He was wielding a sword and had one foot on one half of the elephant-thing's body. I examined this person more clearly.

"Klein?" I called out.

"Kirito!" Klein's voice rang out through the city as he ran over to the three of us. "Who's the cloaked dude?"

"I'm honestly not too sure." I replied.

"My name's Mitsuo. Nice to meet you." The odd cloaked man held out his hand as Klein accepted the handshake.

"This is crappy, isn't it?" Klein stated. "Fifty more floors… the people who are fighting on the front lines need to regroup. You guys are the first people I've seen all day. It seems like the rest of the people remaining have been spread out all across Floor 101."

"Say… Asuna and I were given a private speech by Akhiko, but how were the rest of the players in SAO given the information?" I asked Klein. I could've technically asked Mitsuo, but I didn't trust him in the slightest.

"There was a system announcement. It was really weird, after we all heard the message that the game had been cleared. Hey, and you two got a private meeting with Kayaba Akhiko? Nice."

"Yeah, but he's anything but nice. I can't believe he's doing this… he's already killed thousands of people… why is he going for more?" I gritted my teeth at the thought of this.

"Well, everybody… really you, Klein… you just killed a rare creature that I think might be one of those rideable monsters. It had a saddle." Mitsuo placed himself into the conversation.

"It had a saddle? Man… I would've looked so cool on that thing." Klein pouted.

"Enough about that. It's dead, so there's nothing we can do about it." I grumbled.

"Might as well try to lighten the mood… there's a ton of people that are going to die… no safe zones and all…"

"I agree with Klein!" Mitsuo awkwardly shoved his arm around my friend. I wasn't sure if it was a joke or what, but it made everyone extremely uncomfortable.

"So, us four should totally form a guild!" Mitsuo suggested.

"No thanks. I've already got my own, and we're fighting on the front lines." Klein denied the jokester's offer.

"Kirito-kun… now that we know Heathcliff is Kayaba Akihiko… there's no leader to my guild…"

"Maybe you could be the leader, Asuna!" Klein suggested.

"I don't know…" She replied.

Suddenly, out of the blue, I saw my HP decreasing rapidly. It was already in the yellow zone, and it was about to go down to the red zone. Looking behind me, I saw a terrifying sight: it was a huge dog, taller than me. It had dark red eyes and was staring into my soul. Its teeth were digging into my arm.

Suddenly, Asuna smashed her weapon into the dog, and it stepped back a little.

"You okay, Kirito?" Klein and Mitsuo rushed over to the scene, unsheathing their weapons. Mitsuo gripped his battle axe and swung for the dog, hitting in right in the chest. These two attacks had lowered its HP just barely. Examining the dog's level, I saw that it was…

103.

We were fighting a Level 103 monster.

Realizing this, after drinking a health potion I unsheathed both of my swords and initiated Double Circular, swiftly smashing my blades into the dog. This did a little more damage, but the monster was still in the green zone, and it didn't seem fazed at all from the attacks we'd thrown at it so far. The four of us had HP that was either almost or in the yellow zone, and I was starting to worry.

We couldn't die here.

Not in the first of the next fifty floors. But this monster was almost as powerful as a boss, and we were not prepared in the slightest.

"I got this." Mitsuo suddenly said. And, in mere seconds, the masked man's hand started to glow green as the axe catapulted right into the dog's face. It ripped a hole through it, and the dog's HP quickly dropped to zero. It exploded into shards.

"You…"

"How…"

"What…"

"It's a sword skill. Not sure how nobody else has it, but… it's pretty useful, I guess." Mitsuo chuckled nervously.

"You just took down a Level 103. What level are you?" I asked, suspiciously.

"79."

"Then… you got a special skill that no one else has… you're really weird, Mitsuo."

"I agree with that," Mitsuo stated, "I've always been weirded out that no one else has that ability."

"Well…" Klein spoke up, "I should probably go find my guild now."

"And Asuna and I will try to go find hers, if that's alright with her."

"Yes, Kirito-kun." Asuna agreed with me.

"Then I guess we're splitting up for now… I'll see you all later. I'm going to go annoy some more people for now…" Mitsuo declared.

Floor 101 was proving to be an odd experience thus far.


End file.
